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NASB | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
Subject: but in John's Gospel. |
Bible Note: I will just add a final point on the issue. In John's theology, the "world" means not only people as most of people think. It is the people in their depravity, in their fallen condition. In the same sense he (John) could say "do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world" (1 John 2.15). Now, I agree with the fact that the simple sense is referring to people and not to earth or material things. It is not for that that God sent His Son. But I think that in adding what I have said here, we are in a better condition to understand the "so" in "God so loved the world..." Now, what I mean by that is that in John 3.16 the exegesis is complete not only with the theoretical sense of a word (what many preacher think unfortunately), it is completed when we apply the text to the life of those for whom it has was written. In the context of John 3, we see clearly the concept of perdition or lostness of humnankind (just the discussion with Nicodemus proves it). And it is in that same launch that Jesus added that God so loved the world (in his terrible condition of not being born again) that He gave His only Son precisely to achieve that mandate. So, in conclusion, remember that a word must always been understood in his grammatical sense, yes, but in the author's purpose too, in order to achieve what God has in mind, that is, to convince the world of their need of salvation. Thank you all, for your frank and friendly participation to the question I asked on the forum. Bye! |